Cloth folding and winding machine.



C. BUHL.

cLorH FOLDING AND WINNING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAR-12 |9|5| 1,216,280. Patented Feb. 20, 1917.

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W/TNESES C. BUHL.

CLOTH FOLDING AND WINDING MACHINE.

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C. BUHL.

CLOTH FOLDING AND WINDING MACHINE.

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APPLICATION FILED MAH. 12| 1915.

I I I w///ESSE GAY BUHL, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL TEXTILE MACHINE COMPANY, OF NORTH PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CLOTH FOLDING AND WINDING MACHINE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Fatented Feb.. 20, 1F17..

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that ll, CAY BUHL, a subject of the King of Denmark, residing at Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cloth Folding and Winding Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to apparatus for folding and winding cloth and other iiexible sheet material, and particularly to that class of such apparatus in which the folding is effected longitudinally of the cloth.

The object of the invention is to provide a folding and winding apparatus of the particular class indicated whereby the folding and winding operations may proceed with rapidity and under such control that in the resultant productthe roll of folded and wound material-the convolutions will have their edges all true or flush with each other.

1n the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation;

Fig. 3 is aw front elevation, with the carriage and other parts removed, the upper portion of the machine being broken away;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section, of the upper portion of the machine;

Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 are detail views, illus trating particularly the means for supporting the bolt or roll of wound product;

Fig. 9 is a detail view illustrating the main cloth guiding roll and the measuring means;

Fig. l0 is a rear elevation of the folding device and the cloth, together with the strip of paper which is inserted in the fold formed in the cloth;

Fig. 11 is a front elevation and Fig. 12 a rear elevation of the apex portion of said device;

Fig. 13 is a sectional plan of said device, the section being taken in a plane somewhat above its apex; and,

Fig. 14E is a similar sectionalview with the cloth appearing in section.

I shall first describe the folding device and then the details of the specific apparatus herein illustrated of which it forms a part.

The folding device includes two straightedge members a and b arranged at approximately 185" and another straight-edge member c intersecting the angle of the first two members at approximately 45 to the mem` ber a.. The members b and c are in the present instance arranged in the same plane (Figs. 13 and 14), while the member a is arranged in a plane somewhat spaced from the iirst plane, a triangular distance piece Z being interposed between the member a and the members o and c, the side d of which distance piece bisects the angle (900) between the members c (Figs. 11 and 12).

In the adaptation herein shown, the 'member a extends horizontally and the cloth is led at full width downwardly and in front of the folding device as it appears in Figs. 1 and 3, being stretched around the angle formed by the members a and Z) and having the longitudinal line in which it is to be folded (in the present case, the center line thereof) coincident with the apex of said angle; the cloth A. is advanced in the direction indicated by the arrows in Figs. 3 and 10, its leading end being drawn upwardly, one longitudinal half thereof being folded over on the other half to form the fold B (Fig. 10), which fold has one layer B thereof generating at the straight-edge member a and the other layer B thereof generating at the member c. The folded leading end B extends through the space (Figs. 13 and 111) formed between the members a and o, its folded side being in approximate contact with the side al of the triangular piece el. `Assuming the cloth to be under tension and its folded portion B to be drawnin the direction of the arrows in Figs. 3 and10, the folding, generating at the apex of the angle of the device, will proceed throughout the length of the piece A; and so long as the direction of approach of the piece A is perpendicular t0 the member a, the line of fold will continue throughout the length of the piece central of its width, but if the line of approach of the piece A departs from perpendicular relation to the member a then the line of fold will shift; if such departure is to the right in Fig. "3, the line of fold will shift so that the layer B will be wider than the layer B, and if the departure is in the opposite direction, the line of fold will shift so that the layer B will be the wider. This is due to the fact that as A shifts tothe right or left in Fig. 1 it will work up or down on the member c; when it works up the member c the width of the material in the layer B will obviously increase, and when it works down the vrnem ber c such width will obviously decrease. 1n view of this it will be apparent that by providing means to effect relative movement laterally as between the cloth and the folding device the folding line 'may be shifted toward the one or the other edge of the cloth; or, stated with reference to the practical advantage directly aimed at in the appaiatus herein shown and described, that with such means provided the operator may guide the fold in being formed along some predetermined line (for instance, the center line), causing the shifting one way or the other, according 'as the fold begins to depart from said line. Accordingly, in the present case 1 mount the supply cloth roll in a carriage which the operator may move manually in the frame of the machine relatively to and laterally of the folding device, which is fixed in said frame, as will now appear.

The frame of the machine comprises a base e, housings f j', tubing g having right and left hand threaded connections with the base and housings f other brace tubings L L having similar connections with the base and said housings, super-housings z' z', tubing y', y' having right and left hand threaded con nections with the housings f f and with the super-housings z' i, pairs of tubes la 7c having conical ends seated in conical seats in the two housings and subjected to endwise -pressure when the tubing j j is screwed up tight, (each Set of parts y 7a to c c forming an upright upstanding from the base), and a brace-tube Z which has threaded connection with each of the super-liousings z' c'. The base e includes a pair of reach-rods e e.

The aforesaid 'carriage comprises upper and lower 'rails m m, the upper rail running in grooves of the grooved wheels a journaled on the brackets o secured to the uprights of the frame and the lower rail being `equipped withgrooved rollers p run- =ning on the forward reacli-rod c', pairs of bearing brockets g Q and r r respectively attached to the upper and lower rails, and

kstrips s s each connecting' a bracket g with a bracket r. On the upper rail is a handle t `whereby the carriage may be shifted laterlally'by hand. The carriage aords bearings in ythe brackets Q g for the trunnions of the roll'orbeam u on which the supply of cloth Ato be folded and wound is wound, and in the brackets r r for a guide roller Q: over which the cloth passes before it extends downward to be stretched around the angle formed by the members a and b of the folding device. lIn Figs. 1 vand 9 a vmeasuring device w is shown, actuated from one of the truniiions of the roller o through any suitable means a and serving to' indicatethe yardage folded and wound.

The take-up and winding of the folded cloth is effected as follows: A shaft g/ is journaled in the superhousings c' extending through the brace-tube l, and in the superhousings it carries fixed thereon, thc sprocket wheels e; on one end it carries the fast and loose pulleys 2, 3 around which the drive belt, controlled vby the shifter Ll, extends. Mandrels 5 and G are journaled in the housings yf-f and these carry sprocket wheels 7 within the housings and around whichvand sprocket wheels e chains 8 extend, the mandrel 6 being splined in its sprocket wheel 7 as shown in Fig. l. The inner end of the mandrel 5, which is not movable lengthwise as is the case with the other mandrel, is journaled in a bracket 11 clamped to the brace-tube Z.

Each mandrel has a flattened socketed head 9, 10 adapted to receive one end of the board 12 on which the bolt or roll of folded cloth is to be wound. When the winding operation is proceeding` these heads are connected by the blade 13 one end of which has a hole 14 to receive the head of a screw 15 or other projection on the mandrel head 9 and the other a longitudinal slot 16 to receive the T-shaped head of a thiunb-serew 16 on the mandrel head 10. rlhe end of the blade having the hole 14 is retained in interlocked relation to said head 9 (by the head of the screw 15 being engaged in said hole) by an oblique lip 17 on head 9 so long as the blade is parallel to both heads 9, 10; but the blade may be released from the screw head by tilting it to the dotted position in Fig. S. When the winding starts, the slotted end of the blade is held clamped to the head 10 by the thumb-screw, which also holds the righthand mandrel and head 10 from withdrawing from the board 12 on which the cloth is wound. lVhen the winding is completed, the thumb-screw is released, the right-hand mandrel drawn to the right to clear its head 10 from the board, the blade is disconnected from the thumb-screw, and the board and blade tilted until the latter is disconnected. from the sci'env-liead 15, whereupon, board, blade andthe bolt or roll of cloth being thus detached, the blade may be withdrawn, to be reintroduced into the machine with a fresh (or the same) board. rPhe slot 16 adapts the inandrels to receive boards varying` in length.

A beam 18 for a roll of paper 19 has its trunnions joiiinaled on the inclined runways 20, the paper roll bearing against a guiderollcr 21 journaled in iixed bearings. The strip of paper from this roll passes under the guide-roll 21 and the member a of the folding device and then up between the layers B B of the cloth (Fig. 10).

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Another beam 22 for a roll of paper 23 is journaled in arms 24 projecting from the brace-tube Z, the paper strip in this case being wound with the folded material wound on the board and serving to separate the eonvolutions thereof.

The folding device is fastened to the frame of the machine, c'. e., to the rigid brackets 25.

In operation, the drive` shaft being in rotation, the board previously arranged in the heads of the mandrels is rotated and winds up the folded cloth and the paper strips, the leading ends of which may be clamped between the board and blade 13. As the winding proceeds, thefolding is accomplished by the folding device in the way fully eX- plained. The operator, by observing the folded portion of the cloth and particularly the left-hand edges (Fig. 10) of its layers B B, can note whether or not the folding is proceeding true, and as soon as any departure is noted he gives the carriage 1novenient one way or the other by means of handle t to correct the error. In this way the folding may be made to proceed with the nicest accuracy. A

On account of the eXtra thickness at the fold, there is a tendency for the folded material in winding to work toward the right in Figs. 1 or 3. This I overcome, thus preserving the left-hand or folded edges of the convolutions of the wound material true or flush, by a lined arm 26, in the present case attached to the folding device; it projects between the layers B B of the material against the inside of the fold thereof.

I-Iaving thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. In combination, a frame, a folding device consisting of a plurality of bars arranged in angular relation to each other and in an upright plane and means to guide the cloth in an upright plane to and then around the angle formed by said bars and then back in another upright plane substantially parallel With the first plane, said folding device and means being movable one relatively to the other horizontally and parallel with said planes.

2. In combination, a frame, an upright carriage movable horizontally in said frame, a folding device consisting of a plurality of bars arranged in angular relation to each other and in an upright plane, a cloth beam and a guide roller arranged in the carriage at one side of and parallel with the folding device and the latter above the former, the cloth being adapted to extend from the cloth beam over the roller, then downward and around the folding device and then upward in an upright plane, and means above the folding device on which to wind the folded t cloth.

3. In combination, a folding device consisting of a plurality of bars arranged in angular relation to each other, a frame in which said folding device is arranged, means to guide the cloth being folded including a carriage movable in the frame transversely of the folding device, rotary means in the frame on which to wind up the folded cloth having its axis parallel with the plane of the folding device, and a guide arm Xed in the frame and projecting in a plane substantially parallel with the folded cloth between the layers and up to the fold thereof.

t. In combination, with folding means, rotary means on which to wind the longitudinally folded material, said rotary means being spaced from the folding means, and supporting means for said folding means and rotary means, a guide arm fixed in the supporting means and projecting in a plane substantially parallel with the folded material between the layers and up to the fold thereof.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature in presence of two witnesses. l

GAY BUHL.

Witnesses WM. D. BELL, Ensim KAUFMANN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, Il. C. 

